Morning Thing: The Beatles' Butcher Cover

In 1966, photographer Robert Whitaker photographed the Beatles for a conceptual piece called “The Somnambulent Adventure.” One of the resulting photos was eventually used as the original cover for their album Yesterday and Today. It is impossible to think of a more appropriate cover for the album: John, Paul, George and Ringo dressed in bloody […]

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In 1966, photographer Robert Whitaker photographed the Beatles for a conceptual piece called "The Somnambulent Adventure." One of the resulting photos was eventually used as the original cover for their album Yesterday and Today. It is impossible to think of a more appropriate cover for the album: John, Paul, George and Ringo dressed in bloody butcher's frocks and surrounded by the dismembered and decomposing remains of small infants. Quite unexpectedly, however, the cover caused a small public relations fruckus that eventually got the infamous 'Butcher' cover replaced with one entirely more sensible to the standards of late 60's America. What a shame. What says "Nowhere Man" better than the spilled entrails of neo-nates?